The number one goal of a feeding program is to promote healthy development from birth to freshening. Additionally, we want to maximize each heifer’s growth and genetic potential to its fullest – while also promoting healthy hair coats, good muscle tone and ideal body condition – when it matters most, show days.

U.S. milk producers again saw a decrease in average somatic cell counts (SCC) based on an annual summary of Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) test-day results.

In this episode, Steven Pavelski, large herd application expert for Nedap, reinforces the value of herd monitoring technology and describes how it saves farmers time, labor and costs. Pavelski shares how Nedap CowControl reveals behavior abnormalities, signs of heat and real-time location to get the right cow in front of the right person at the right time.

Are you utilizing and optimizing all you have already paid for? Is there untapped potential and ways your existing milking equipment can help you out? Many milk point manufacturers have a stimulation function on their equipment.

Not only do these producers gain a higher-value calf that commands a premium from buyers versus beef-on-dairy crossbred calves or full-blood dairy bull calves, but they’re also able to improve conception rates during the hottest months of the year.

Our checkoff mission is to drive demand and sales of U.S.-produced dairy and build trust in the farm families who work every day to feed the people around the world. That mission comes with a responsibility of transparency with our strategies and the way we invest your checkoff dollars.

Improved labor efficiency, employee retention and communication were among the benefits for two Pacific Northwest dairy farms that upgraded their milking parlors from the traditional herringbone and parallel models to a rotary and an automated milking system, respectively.